NCAA BASKETBALL ::: Big men lead Pirates past Tulane [bk-030312]

After struggling much of the season to hold its own against deeper, more experienced foes, East Carolina's frontcourt exerted itself Saturday night, dominating Tulane inside to claim a 66-49 Conference USA road victory and nail down a No. 10 seed in this week's league tournament.

Junior forward Maurice Kemp had 22 points and 10 rebounds and junior pivotman Darrius Morrow scored 19 points and grabbed 7 boards as the Pirates took the lead eight minutes into the first half and maintained the advantage from that point on for their second straight win. East Carolina celebrated its Senior Day last Wednesday by springing a 69-68 upset on Marshall.

Kemp was 8-of-16 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, while Morrow made 6-of-8 field goal attempts and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

East Carolina won the rebounding battle 39-22, including an 11-5 advantage on the offensive boards. The Pirates outscored Tulane in the paint 30-22 and flattened the Wave on second chance points 12-1.

Freshman guard Ricky Tarrant, with 16 points, was the only player in double figures for Tulane, which was celebrating its own Senior Night. The outcome marked the Green Wave's first Senior Night defeat in eight years.

East Carolina led at the half 26-22. The game's final 17-point margin represented the Pirates' biggest lead of the night.

The Pirates and No. 7 seed Rice will open the C-USA Tournament with a 1 p.m. matchup on Wednesday at the FedExForum in Memphis. ECU knocked off the Owls 82-68 in Greenville on Feb. 4.

The Green Wave, which was relegated to the No. 12 seed, will go up against fifth-seed UAB at 10 p.m. in the opening day finale.

Regular season champion and top seed Memphis is the tournament host. The Tigers along with second-seed Southern Miss, No. 3 Tulsa and No. 4 Central Florida have first round byes and will see their first action on Thursday.

    1:00 pm — (7) Rice vs. (10) East Carolina (TV: CSS)
    1:30 pm — (6) Marshall vs. (11) Southern Methodist (TV: CSS)
    7:30 pm — (8) Texas-El Paso vs. (9) Houston (TV: CSS)
   10:00 pm — (5) UAB vs. (12) Tulane (TV: CSS)

    1:00 pm — (2) Southern Miss vs. Rice/ECU winner (TV: CBS Sports Network)
    3:30 pm — (3) Tulsa vs. Marshall/Southern Methodist winner (TV: CBS Sports Network)
    7:30 pm — (1) Memphis vs. Texas-El Paso/Houston winner (TV: CBS Sports Network)
   10:00 pm — (4) Central Florida vs. UAB/Tulane winner (TV: CBS Sports Network)

4:00 pm — Semifinal # 1 (TV: CBS Sports Network)
6:30 pm — Semifinal # 2 (TV: CBS Sports Network)

BOX SCORE

EAST CAROLINA 66, TULANE 49

Date: Saturday, Mar. 3, 2012
Place: Fogelman Arena, New Orleans, LA
Attendance: 2,712
Records: ECU 14-15 (5-11 Conference USA); TU 15-15 (3-13)

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  FINAL
East Carolina       26 40 - 66
Tulane             22 27 - 49

ECU PIRATES
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................  ....  .... .... .. ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f   6-8   0-0   7-8 7 19 31
12 Sampson, Robert..... f   2-4   1-3   0-0 6   5 28
00 Paul, Miguel........ g   2-6   1-3   1-1 2   6 30
11 Gaines, Corvonn..... g   2-5   0-0   0-2 6   4 32
23 Straughn, Erin...... g   1-2   1-2   0-0 2   3 13
02 Kemp, Maurice......... 8-16   0-3   6-6 10 22 31
03 Torlak, Petar.........   0-1   0-0   0-0 1   0   1
22 Campbell, Paris.......   3-8   1-4   0-0 2   7 29
35 Morales, Darius.......   0-0   0-0   0-0 0   0   5
TEAM.....................                    3
TOTALS................... 24-50 4-15 14-17 39 66 200
PERCENT.................. 48.0 26.7 82.4

TU GREEN WAVE
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................  ....  .... .... .. ... ...
00 Davis, Josh .........f   4-9   0-2   1-3 8   9 39
05 Callahan, Jordan.... f 3-10   1-4   1-2 1   8 34
20 Thomas, Kevin....... f   0-0   0-0   0-0 0   0   8
02 Tarrant, Ricky...... g 3-13   1-7 9-11 0 16 34
03 Rogers, Trent....... g   1-4   1-3   0-0 0   3 25
21 Monckton, Dan.........   1-1   0-0   0-1 4   2 12
24 Hook, Jay.............   1-4   1-4   0-0 1   3 15
25 Nwogbo, Lotanna.......   2-2   0-0   0-1 0   4   8
34 Drye, Tre.............   2-2   0-0   0-0 7   4 25
TEAM.....................                    1
TOTALS................... 17-45 4-20 11-18 22 49 200
PERCENT.................. 37.8 20.0 61.1

Fouled out: Paris Roberts-Campbell
Technical Fouls: None
Officials: Darron George, Rod Dixon, Brent Hampton